Among those responding to Vine’s tweet was British politician Sajid Javid, who quote-tweeted Vine’s post, attributing blame to the 5-year-old’s father.
In a subsequent interview, Vine countered Javid’s remarks, pointing out, “In his 2019 spending review, he didn’t allocate any funding for active travel.”
Vine came to Borges-Zhang’s defense, praising him as a “brilliant dad” for ensuring the incident was captured on camera. Vine remarked, “People criticizing the father are the same individuals who complain about children cycling on pavements. The person filming this is a commendable dad.”
When another Twitter user challenged Vine for supporting Zhang-Borges’ child and criticized allowing a 5-year-old to cycle on the road, Vine responded by stating that dangerous roads are a result of bad drivers. “Roads are hazardous because of bad drivers. Bad drivers must be compelled to watch out for others. Clearing space for them exacerbates the problem,” he asserted.
Surrey Police also sided with Zhang-Borges in a tweet, stating, “If you look ahead, there is a pinch point with priority to traffic traveling the same direction as the riders. Had there been a car traveling towards, the driver would have had to pull over in the gap behind the parked cars.”
Zhang-Borges, featured on Vine’s show, insisted that his child has the right to ride a bike on the road. “The facts are clear on this one; the driver was wrong, and my son has every right to ride on the road. That’s clear-cut,” Zhang-Borges affirmed.
While the majority disagreed with Zhang-Borges, there were also those who supported his stance. “He has every right to #ride on the road. Cycling is free, #healthy, produces zero #emission & frees up the road for other vehicles,” one user commented
The 5-year old's father. https://t.co/nMfncye03d
— Sajid Javid (@sajidjavid) November 10, 2022
